South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun is to travel to North Korea Oct. 2 to 4 for the summit as he wraps up an administration known criticized for seeking to appease the North, and which have strained ties with the U.S.
"We are considering giving a home theater system for Kim who likes movies," a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Flat screen televisions symbolize South Korea's rapidly growing high-technology industries," he said.
Gifts would also include DVDs of South Korean hit films, including the latest blockbuster, "Dragon Wars," which opened in 2,000 theaters in the United States earlier this month.
"We believe a flat screen television and other home theater devices [to be given to the North] are not among strategic items," the official said, referring to the U.S. ban on shipments of "strategic products" such as precision machinery and high-tech personal computers to countries like North Korea deemed as supporting terrorism.
South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-Seon refused to disclose any gift list to the North Korean leader, saying no decision has yet been made.
On his visit to Pyongyang, Roh will be accompanied by a group of executives from South Korean technology giants Samsung and LG, makers of home entertainment devices and other consumer products.
Roh's North Korea visit comes two months ahead of South Korea's presidential election. Roh is under pressure to avoid making any deals that could affect the outcome of the election or pose a heavy burden on Seoul's next president, who will take office in February 2008.
Roh's gift of home theater system is aimed at winning favor with Kim Jong-Il. But Kim fears the spread of South Korean movies and other pop culture in the isolated North, fearing they could erode the already-strained credibility of the totalitarian communist regime.
Merchants from China have smuggled in videotapes and CDs of South Korean films, music and TV soap operas, spreading the capitalist culture into the reclusive North.
A survey of North Koreans who recently defected to the South shows wealthy North Koreans have obtained South Korean videotapes and CDs and also have TVs, video players or personal computers at home watch them. They swap the programs with others.
North Korea has intensified crackdowns on karaoke clubs, computer game rooms and the spread of South Korean videotapes, according to the intelligence sources.
